and the precept, Obey them that have the rule over you" (Heb., xiii., 17), is to them without signification; or, to speak more correctly, flocks hardly have an existence any longer.

This state of things has its own disadvantages, which it is superfluous to specify; but in these same disadvantages it finds its advantage. It does not abolish, it rather, in some sort, perfects the duty. It makes more than ever necessary love-moral authority, of which love is the principal element, the indispensable condition-discretion, thoughtfulness.

To exercise and enforce authority without startling the spirit of independence; here is a problem which simplicity and charity alone can solve. Even in their day, the apostles had to protest that they did not desire to domineer over the Lord's heritage, and that they claimed not the government of souls, except as having to give account of them.-Heb., xiii., 17. Distrust of pastoral ascendency is natural, and, to a certain extent, legitimate. It appears to me a matter for congratulation that, in our day, the pastor can come to his flock, not as preceded and introduced by a foreign authority, but under the sole protection of the pastoral name and the holiness of his undertaking: So that the less he is in favor under one title, the more welcome will he be under the other.

§ 2. Objections against the Exercise of this Function. Against the exercise of the care of souls certain objections or excuses arise, which we must pass in review.*

1. Want of Taste.-But it is not an affair of taste that we are concerned with; it is an affair of duty: an essential interest, not a detail of abstract perfection. If taste for this part of the ministry is wanting, what kind of taste is there for the other parts? If we have not a call to care for the souls of the flock, one by one, we have not a call to the min• HARMS: Pastoraltheologie, tome iii., p. 19.

istry. This objection, then, is all-weak or all-powerful-allpowerful because of its very weakness.

2. Want of Time.-What are we to understand by this? Does it mean that we are to apply ourselves to this duty only when we have nothing else to do? I confess I would rather hear the care of souls objected against preaching, than preaching against the care of souls: I would rather one should say to me, My sick, my poor, my scattered sheep require me, and forbid me to give my preaching all the attention which is desirable. This objection assumes the point in question as settled, namely, that we know that the care of souls is second in importance; but who has said this, and how can it be proved?

3. Not acceptable. This is possible, but be careful that you say this in good earnest. Do not say it after a first and indolent effort. Why, you expect doors to open themselves to you at your mere approach! We are, in general, too hasty in saying that we are not acceptable. There are many more ways of access than we suppose, because there are more necessities, more accessible sides, more occasions than we think of. Our ministry is not so sure to be repelled when it exhibits itself under the form of Christian affection.

After all, it is natural that we should not be acceptable. The truth, we all know, is not received with cordiality; and the chief Shepherd, certainly, is not better received by us than we are by others; never will they receive us worse than we have received God. And yet he came "to his own."John, i., 11. The servant is not greater than his Lord. Is not patience our duty? Is it not the proof and the exercise of our faith?

3. Conditions or Qualities requisite for the Exercise of the Care of Souls.

The requisites or necessary means are these:

1. Health. The details of the care of souls are neither necessarily nor generally dangerous to health, if the parish is not too large: A measure of physical force and a good constitution are, however, necessary. But, in general, he who can bear the burden of preaching has sufficient physical ability for the care of souls. There may, however, be exceptions, and one should examine himself well as to this point when he is examining his call to the pastorate, which is not divisible in itself.

2. A certain presence of mind, which ministers possess in different degrees, but which may be in a greater or less measure acquired, and which very often is no other than presence of heart, or what this supplies.

3. Psychological Knowledge. Many put logic in the place of psychology, which is a great evil. Logic is rectilinear; it cuts its way, it traverses moral facts; psychology is sinuous and flexible. The psychology of books is very useful as the basis of research, but it is nothing without experience and without study of one's self. To know one's self well is a means of thus knowing others; although we should be prepared for a strong encounter with moral combinations which we have not anticipated, which might have seemed impossible, on which account we should study facts in the facts themselves, with candor and docility.

4. Knowledge of the Parish.-The parish is not an abstraction; it is a concrete fact, it is an individuality, which has no absolute resemblance except to itself. It is very true that the knowledge of it supposes that of man in general, since, if we do not know man in general, we can not know him in a certain place and certain time; it is also true that this general man is to be sought out and evolved in man of L

a certain time and certain place. It is true that there are things which, with equal force, interest and engage man, though placed in the most different conditions; and that there are things which are important above all others. But it is not less true that, if we take no account of what individualizes a flock, we are not only likely to be less useful, less agreeable, or less welcome, but also to counteract, in many particulars, the object we propose to ourselves. As all external circumstances modify the state of the soul, they thereby modify also the agency we should exert upon it. We must, so to speak, ask the individual man to introduce us to mankind, at least we must not let this individual man obstruct our road. St. Paul speaks to all as men; nevertheless, he was to the Jews a Jew, to the Greeks a Greek; all things to all men. We must not strike keys to which no chord corresponds, and leave those untouched to which are connected chords of the fullest and richest sound.

The care of souls, then, will not be the same in city and country, in a farming and a manufacturing district, in the bosom of a population of simple manners and with refined and effeminate people. The pastor should take account of all this, as also of geographic, climatic, economic, dietetic, and historic circumstances. He should acquaint himself with customs, interests, wants, prejudices, opinions. He should not limit himself to certain fruitful data developed by certain inductions; he should prefer studying things in the things themselves. For between two parishes in the same circumstances, both mountainous, both agricultural, both rich, or both poor, he should still distinguish. The pastor should, above all, understand the religious state of the parish which is transferred to him. This, and all the particulars to which we have referred, should be the objects of prolonged and persevering study, dating from the moment of entrance on his duties; but before his entrance he must have informed himself of every thing of importance, and certain

Without the

details which appear small are important. knowledge of these, he may wound, may shock, may be misjudged, and may create prejudices, which are very apt to be formed, and are very slowly dissipated. He must know the good and the bad, the strong as well as the weak, in order to know what needs to be developed and what to be repressed.. We may hence see how advantageous it may be for the same pastor to remain a long time in the same parish.

5. Care to maintain Relations of Confidence and Affection with the Parish.-These he will secure in part by the care of souls; but, with a view to the care of souls, he should also in every way create and maintain them. The means are positive and negative. We shall not speak here of the first, intending to present them hereafter in the aspect, and under the name of duties. We shall now speak only of negative means, which may be summed up in this: the avoiding of all useless collision with interest and self-love, the voluntary relinquishment of his right, according to the word of the apostle, "Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?"-1 Cor., vi., 7. The pastor, unquestionably, should not encourage evil by weakness on his part, but he should not show himself too fond of his own opinion, and ever ready to make difficulty. Let him also be careful not to enter into obligations too readily, and to keep himself in this respect as independent as possible. It is well here to call to mind an advantage we have from our institutions, according to which the pastor receives nothing from the community, and the chance of dependence can scarcely have existence.

§ 4. Three-fold Object of pastoral Oversight.

We will now resolve the pastoral office into its different elements or different acts, regarding it as including not only the religious care of families and individuals, but every thing except public instruction and the celebration of worship.